This is the best short history to have appeared of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), its release being most aptly timed post-demonetisation, to coincide with the commemoration of the apex bank's founding on All Fools' Day of 1935.

Demonetisation figures only in the cover image of new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes, for the book's cut-off date is 2008, after which, the author says, the "institution has been diminished in too many ways... not least because the government has wrested back the autonomy the RBI had begun to enjoy after 1992".

Given that the central bank had no role in conceiving demonetisation, its absence in the text doesn't detract from the brilliant exposition of government-RBI relations.

Indeed, it is the first unofficial, but authoritative, history of the RBI, laying bare for the lay reader the relationship between the RBI and government.

Without actually posing it, the book prompts the question why Raghuram Rajan, who was the first Governor appointed from outside the government system, also became the first, since Independence, not to have his tenure extended. Was it because he wouldn't have readily agreed on the virtues of demonetisation, which helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi reap an electoral harvest last month in Uttar Pradesh?

With the RBI not having a role in conceiving it, demonetisation ends up as a political move that touched the purificatory, cleansing chord in the Indian psyche, and which sentiment a campaign like Modi's Clean India seeks to energise in a collective effort. The stated objectives of demonetisation were to eliminate corruption, black money, counterfeit currency and terror financing.

Both the authority and high readability of the book spring from its original premise, dating from when economic journalist Raghavan was first contracted to help with writing the third and fourth volumes of RBI's official history, which together weigh several kilos. After being involved between 2003-2011, he resigned from the job when told the writing had to be "dull and boring", and then independently pursued the idea of an abridged version of the bank's history.

"Dialogue..." is a must-read for those interested in Indian political economy, and particularly its monetary history, policy and politics. Citing Voltaire, who said god would have to be invented if he didn't exist, Raghavan writes that "like god, central banks also move in mysterious ways: it is hard to tell how much of what they do has economic substance and how much is purely political".

The Bank of England and the Banque de France, for instance, were created to fund wars, while the RBI was born out of the need to facilitate the drain of wealth from India to Britain via banks.

Pre-Independence, the RBI's mandate was to maintain the external and internal value of the rupee through the available instruments of the bank rate, reserve requirements and open market operations involving government bonds. Britain financed the Second World War by government borrowing from the RBI at the rate of three per cent.

The issue of government control over the currency issuer was rooted in the birth of the RBI as an agency owned by private shareholders, which, thereafter, financed the war. In 1949, the new Indian government nationalised the RBI "over its vehement protests".

According to the author, the balance of power in favour of the government is a function of the fact that "monetary policy has had to be subservient to fiscal policy" in independent India. The independence of monetary policy in India has been confused with the independence of governors, he says.

The logic of post-Independence political economy inexorably pushed the RBI further into a subordinate position vis-a-vis the government, which adopted the economic unorthodoxy of deficit financing. The government borrowed, while the RBI printed money. Ad hoc Treasury Bills became an attractive mode of financing government expenditure from the 1950s, till the practice was finally discontinued in 1998 by Governor C. Rangarajan.

Rural credit became both a political and economic imperative post-Independence, and ultimately led to the nationalisation of banks in 1969. In the decade that followed, there was a manifold increase in loans to the agriculture sector. This problem has snowballed, adding to the gigantic non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks, even as, earlier this month, the new Uttar Pradesh government announced farm loan waivers worth Rs 36,000 crore, provoking criticism from Governor Urjit Patel.

The 1969 bank nationalisation, and the resulting domination of the Finance Ministry, emasculated the RBI even more. It became part and parcel of the state apparatus for managing the supply of credit and its price in a way that put the public sector at the centre of its efforts, leaving the private sector on the fringes. The apex bank introduced such a complex system of credit controls that, as a result, by 1988 the Indian economy had as many as 235 different interest rates!

Y.V. Reddy, Governor during 2003-2008, and acknowledged as one of its finest, who famously said the RBI is "totally free, within the limits set by the government", recently said there is no "political economy consensus" on tackling the mounting problem of bad loans of banks, which cannot be resolved by their simple recapitalisation. The NPAs of state-run banks at the end of last September rose to Rs 6.3 lakh crore (almost $98 billion), as compared to Rs 5.5 lakh crore at the end of June 2016.

There was a fundamental change in the relationship post the 1991 balance of payments crisis and the onset of liberalisation. The RBI didn't become independent in that political considerations ceased to be its concern, "but it did become the primus inter pares among regulators of whom many were to follow to supervise the many new markets" beginning to take root in India.

More recently, 2016 turned out as the most momentous year for the RBI after inception, because by a change in law, a six-member Monetary Policy Committee, which includes three government nominees, started setting interest rates, thus ending the practice of the governor alone being responsible for monetary policy.

Kashmir is on the boil; the "Azadi" chant reverberates from every corner; normal life is at a halt. A young, educated, career-oriented woman's life gets entangled amidst all this. The result is Nayeema Mahjoor's debut book "Lost in Terror" .

There have been many books depicting the Kashmir issue from a man's perspective but hardly any from the women's point of view -- on their suffering and misery. And this is why Mahjoor, Chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir State Commission for Women, decided to write the book.

"Usually it's always a man's perspective which has been penned down when it comes to the Kashmir issue. I was witness to the situation prevailing in the early nineties, like other women who were at the forefront of every misery. I took the challenge to tell story of women who were voiceless and helpless. To highlight their misery at home and outside was my sole objective," Mahjoor, 55, told IANS in an email interview from Srinagar.

Her rather bold book opens up her personal life, her bonding with her father and sisters, her disrupted marital terms with her husband, and her lost friends.

"Ours is a traditional society and issues relating to women are always brushed aside. Nobody dares to delve into their lives. Somebody has to take a stand, so let it be me," she asserted.

She narrates how often she got entangled in the difference in political ideologies between her father and her husband.

"After my marriage, Baba and my husband continued the political discourse which sometimes took a nasty turn," she writes.

When asked whether coming out so candidly would affect her personal life, she said that creating a character wouldn't have had the same impact on readers as reading a first-person account.

"To safeguard other women's dignity and respect, I had to depict personal relations so that society becomes aware about issues which are preferred not be spoken about. My relations are not so weak, so I am not worried about disclosing my terms with my family," the author said.

She also writes about how the marital relationship with her husband would often turn nasty and translate into domestic violence.

"His eyes were bloodshot, and he started abusing me physically and mentally. I was gasping for air; my breathlessness nearly killed me," she pens.

She strongly affirms that it is still very tough and gruelling to speak about the distressed circumstances of Kashmiri women.

"There are so many issues, mostly domestic, that women are forced to keep folded or buried somewhere within. Women need to speak up about issues that are violent, volatile and disturbing," stated the author.

Though women's voices are often unheard, Mahjoor is optimistic that change will come in society and writing about issues pertaining to women may help a lot to improve their situation.

"Only more writing by women and for women can change the situation. We are brought up in an environment to only listen and cannot say anything; only give and never demand anything. Women have to learn to say that if they are not heard then they should shout to make themselves heard," said the author.

Talking about the acceptance of her book, she said: "I have faith in my readers, they may be sceptical about political issues but I believe we all are compassionate and will come forward to heal the wounds of thousands of women."

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title: Unreal Aliens

Author: Karthik Laxman

Publisher: Penguin Random House India

Pages: 240

Price: Rs 199

Once upon a time in a galaxy far away, hope for a declining empire when a prophesied deliverer is born to its aging ruler. But the child is kidnapped and eventually ends up on our planet. Tracking him, the aliens land in Narendra Modi's India, where they are feted until they reveal their objective. Their plea rejected, they decide to take matters into their own hands, and a neighbouring country is always ready to abet mischief.

Mayhem ensues as the aliens easily take over India, which finds itself defenceless with the armed forces deployed on the borders where both difficult neighbours are making trouble, while the most bloodthirsty Indians are more keen to fight each other.

In face of this unprecedented, momentous and existential crisis, India's indefatigable leader has to strike up desperate and unlikely alliances, including with purveyors of news, to counter the alien invaders.

But can the politicians cooperate with so much bad blood among them, and does their complex but perilous plan, derived from Hollywood, have any chance of success? And where is the missing prince?

Find out what happens in this magnificently subversive, and uproarious satire which spans India from the corridors of high power to cricket stadiums to secret hideouts of politicians, and even a swanky terrorism university in Pakistan, before the climaxing in a standoff on Delhi's Old ITO Bridge over Yamuna's "dark and fetid waters".

Painting a savagely funny but easily recognisable picture of contemporary India in all its complexities and contradictions is "The Unreal Times" website founder and writer Karthik Laxman in his second book (after "Unreal Elections", 2014 with C.S. Krishna). And he doesn't spare any punches or ignore any section of Indian newsmakers - politicians, journalists, cricketers (and commentators), political activists and even Bollywood stars, though off screen - as well as politics, media and culture.

Even Pakistan and its "deep state" don't escape (don't miss the servile aide in a meeting of top brass and terrorists), nor does India's most wanted fugitive criminal - in more ways than one, courtesy unpredictably unreliable Chinese technology. Chinese leaders however seem to have a wicked sense of humour - after a think tank in Pakistan called RANDI, proposing a new agency Cooperation in Human and Technical Intelligence for Young Agents with the acronym using two first letters in human (work that out yourself) .

In the best traditions of satirists, Laxman uses all foibles, though ramped up high, of the characters he portrays - especially Modi's grandiloquence and sartorial splendor and quick change capability, and the habits and predilections of prominent TV journalists, like a high-decibel one who just quit, and much more.

Not to be missed is the formulaic actions we have seen for visiting dignitaries - made funnier when you realise who the visitors are. Though the day when the aliens land is reserved for informal interaction but not always - with the alien commander finding himself participating in "Swacch Bharat", recording a "Mann Ki Baat" session, and doing yoga.

And the next day, the two sides sign 27 MoUs including "manufacturing alien spaceships and saucers under the Make in India programme, replacing German with alien language Morling as the third language in schools and the corresponding promotion of Gujarati on Planet Mor....". The aliens are also persuaded to invest in bullet train technology, Swachh Bharat and the Ganga rejuvenation plan.

But like "Unreal Elections" where we find who Modi's heroes actually are, how Rahul Gandhi has played a stellar role in Indian politics since the 1970s and why Mamata Banerjee cannot abide fast food, Laxman is best when being wickedly inventive - on how Modi prepares for visiting dignitaries, how Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi act away from public eye, what Arnab Goswami gets up to with his son's toys, and what he sees in his dreams.

And while the high-stake cricket match between the Indian team and the aliens is superlatively funny, there are other scenes that may first seem humourous - the returning home of the UP girl kidnapped by aliens, the Margdarshak Mandal's fate, and some ways Indians defeat the aliens - but then evoke concern and disquiet. Likewise the end where all is revealed.

That is the uncompromising aim of satire, which is also universal in its treatment, and Laxman achieves both aims here.

]]>(Photo credit: Mayank Austen Soofi)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, the new novel by Arundhati Roy, will be published by Hamish Hamilton UK and Penguin India in June 2017.

"I am glad to report that the mad souls (even the wicked ones) in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, have found a way into the world, and that I have found my publishers," Arundhati Roy said.

This is her first work of fiction since The God of Small Things, which won the Booker prize nineteen years ago in 1997.

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Book: 1991: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Made History

Author: Sanjaya Baru

Publisher: Aleph

Pages: 216

Price: Rs 250

If today's Indian leadership can boast about the country's economic growth despite the world economy largely being in a slump, the credit largely goes to former Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao, who set the ball rolling way back in 1991, says this book by veteran journalist and former media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sanjaya Baru.

But Rao, like most other outstanding achievers outside the Nehru-Gandhi fold, remains largely unappreciated and underrated, thanks again to the "First Family" that has made a (once) national political party its personal fiefdom.

Baru places Rao's achievements against the backdrop of national and international social-political-economic circumstances of the time when India faced its worst economic crisis after independence.

The crisis, as Baru recounts, had its genesis in the 1970s and was left unattended -- nay, aggravated, through "short-term political considerations and extreme political cynicism", as Baru puts it -- by the subsequent governments of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, allowing it to snowball into a monster that threatened to inflict unprecedented damage on the sovereignty and credibility of India.

Baru recalls how former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar, sworn-in with Congress support, tried to stem the rapid decline through a slew of "forced moves", but his efforts -- notably to have persuaded the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to lend India desperately-needed dollars -- were brought to a nought when a paranoid Rajiv Gandhi prevented the coalition government from presenting a regular budget in February, and when ultimately Congress' high-handedness drove Chandrashekhar to throw in the towel.

After Rajiv's assassination, Rao, who was mulling retirement at that point in time, was thrust to the top by a combination of luck and political manoeuvring.

The book describes in detail how Rao not only managed to run a minority government but turned the country's fortunes around along with his hand-picked confidants (Manmohan Singh, who was named his Finance Minister and later went on to become a two-term Prime Minister, being one of them).

"Before P.V., at least four senior political leaders -- three of them ex-Congressmen -- tried leading non-Congress governments in New Delhi: Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar and V.P. Singh. All of them failed. Most of them were in office for less than a year. P.V., however, demonstrated his staying power within a year. He did this not by becoming authoritarian, but by being democratic in his instincts, consensual in his approach and, above all, transactional in his dealings," Baru writes.

However, Rao, was never accorded the due respect or credit by the Nehru-Gandhian Congress the former Prime Minister deserved. Worse, it disowned him.

Baru writes: "During the intervening years the Congress Party disowned P.V. His name was virtually erased from the party's public memory. When he died, the party shut the gates of its headquarters and refused to bid an official farewell to a former (party) president. His crime: Seeking to end the proprietary control of the INC by the Nehru-Gandhi family. P.V. died on 23 December 2004... Even Manmohan Singh was unable to honour P.V. with a Bharat Ratna during his decade-long tenure as Prime Minister. The party had again become a proprietorship."

Baru's previous work, "The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh" had sparked a row over its claim that the Manmohan Singh PMO was actually run by Sonia Gandhi. The present one, too, is certain to rub many the wrong way.

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title: India Rising: Fresh Hope, New Fears

Author: Ravi Velloor

Publisher: Straits Times Press

Pages: 368

In March 2013, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon called Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president's brother who ran the war against the Tamil Tigers. Menon promised Indian support at the UN human rights vote in Geneva and wanted to know which countries may vote against Sri Lanka so that he may persuade them not to do so. But when the vote came, Colombo was stunned: India itself had voted against Sri Lanka.

A perplexed Gotabhaya soon learnt the story behind the Indian 'betrayal'. Apparently, then Home Minister P. Chidambaram, with a shrinking support base in Tamil Nadu, persuaded Congress president Sonia Gandhi to go for a negative vote. The matter reached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who, "unable to say no to the high command, simply keeled over and complied". India scored a diplomatic self-goal because one of its politicians wanted to win more votes in his home state.

Singapore-based Indian journalist Ravi Velloor reveals this - and much more -- in his scholarly study of the Manmohan Singh decade and how the economist-turned-politician's failure to check corruption led to the rise of Narendra Modi and a virtual decimation of the Congress in 2014. Ravi's admiration for Modi shows but he is no cheerleader of the BJP or Hindutva ideology. The BJP was "a mediocre political institution" until Modi came along, he says, and argues that a stress on "Indutva" (Indianness) - not Hindutva - may perhaps offer a lasting glue to 21st century India.

The book is a follow up of the reportage Ravi did for The Straits Times of Singapore over many years, producing stories based on his extensive connections with key actors in the Indian government, diplomacy and the military, not to speak of his equally rich contacts outside of India.

Sonia Gandhi's firm belief after the 2009 Lok Sabha victory that massive sops to voters would help win future elections too fundamentally affected the Sonia-Manmohan relationship, Ravi says. But what really undid Manmohan Singh was sleaze that he seemed unable to check because of what he called "coalition dharma". Though Shashi Tharoor and A. Raja were forced out of the government, the damage had been done by 2011, so much so that the Congress was in no mood to celebrate that year the two decades of free market reforms the prime minister himself had unleashed in an earlier avatar.

If Chidambaram was more concerned about his votes in Tamil Nadu than India's standing in Sri Lanka, Defence Minister A.K. Antony shuddered to take on China. And if Manmohan Singh looked wooden towards the end of his tenure, it was because he had "started showing signs of early stage of Parkinson's disease". This was a closely guarded secret, unknown to many even in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The overtly mild-mannered Manmohan Singh, we are told, remembers every slight but the vindictive streak is mostly kept hidden.

Ravi is gung-ho on India, despite its many teething problems. With a firmly entrenched democratic process, India's diversities have not affected the rise of a national consciousness. But although it has a good chance of overtaking Britain and France to become the world's fifth largest economy by the end of this decade, India will have to, Ravi warns, present a coherent and convincing face to the world if it wants to be taken seriously.

Ravi is among those who feel that it has been a while since Indians felt secure in the knowledge that in Modi they have a strong leader. But he thinks - unlike most Modi backers - that Modi may be in the wrong party. (A la Vajapyee?) If Modi has to succeed in the long run, there will have to be a more cooperative brand of domestic politics. Modi's go-it-alone personality shuts out the outreach to others needed to build the consensus on which the pillars of a new economic regime have to rest. He must cut loose from the Hindutva brigade, from the BJP too. (Wishful thinking?)

As for Modi's government, Ravi is unsparing - "the talent in his cabinet can be squeezed into the back seat of a Maruti Suzuki subcompact". And so, in a perverse way, in Modi's strengths also lie India's fragility.

Ravi has disdain for Rahul Gandhi -- "a political liability for the Congress". He feels the future battle lines in Indian politics may well revolve between Modi and the head of India's youngest political party, Arvind Kejriwal - "one intent on swiftly building the cake, the other on distributing it first". This is truly a great book.

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title: Who was Shivaji?

Author: Govind Pansare

Publisher: LeftWord Books

Pages: 110

Price: Rs.150

Who was Shivaji? A medieval ruler (1627-80) who embraced what is known today as Hindutva politics and was bitterly anti-Muslim? Or was he an able king who did not discriminate on the basis of religion and constantly worked to better the lives of peasants and other oppressed communities?

This is the book - the outcome of a speech delivered in May 1987 - that probably cost CPI leader Govind Pansare, 67, his life. Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot him when he was on a morning walk with his wife in Kolhapur in Maharashtra on February 16, 2015. He died in Mumbai. The killers were never caught.

Read the racy and hugely informative book, and it is clear that Pansare was most probably killed for portraying Shivaji in a rare new light - based on sound research. It is no wonder the book has been printed in eight languages and is seen as a counter to Shivaji's image portrayed by dominant Hindu nationalist discourse.

Shivaji was a hugely popular king because he reined in feudal lords and introduced rules and regulations regarding what the Jagirdars, Deshmukhs, Vatandars (landholders), Patils and Kulkarnis should do and should not. Shivaji's state punished guilty feudal bosses, a dramatic development in the life of peasants who immediately identified themselves with the king and willingly took part in his military expeditions.

Shivaji maintained low rates for rent and taxes on land, severely punished rapists, took the administration close to the ordinary folks by doing work in Marathi, told his soldiers never to loot from peasants or torment women, and led a life of personal morality.

Contrary to popular perception, Shivaji had many Muslims working under him. They held very important positions in his army and administration. His naval chief was Darya Sarang Daulat Khan, a personal bodyguard was a young Muslim, and the head of infantry was Noor Khan Beg. Around 1649, about 500-700 Pathans from the Vijaypur Army joined Shivaji.

"Shivaji's lieutenants, soldiers and chieftains were not Hindus alone. They were Muslims as well. If Shivaji had undertaken the task of eliminating Islam, these Muslims would certainly not have joined him. (However) Shivaji had set out to demolish the despotic and exploitative rule of Muslim rulers."

Shivaji was no doubt religious and proud of being a Hindu. But he fought the Marathas as well. When Mughal warlord Shaista Khan invaded Shivaji's dominion, many Hindu noblemen accompanied Khan, including four of Shivaji's relatives. And in 1665, Shivaji had to concede defeat to Mirza Raja Jai Singh, a satrap of Emperor Aurangzeb, leading to the humiliating treaty of Purandar that led him to surrender his forts, money and son Sambhaji to the Mughal regime. And to oppose Shivaji, some Brahmins in his kingdom performed a 'Kot Chandi Yajna' on behalf of Raja Jai Singh.

Sadly, Pansare says, modern history presents Shivaji as virulently anti-Muslim - which the late author says he was not. "Shivaji's Swaraj was not for Hindus alone. It was equally for the Muslims in Maharashtra." Shivaji, Pansare tells us, was "a man of his times" -- "neither a Hindu fundamentalist nor a secular socialist".

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US-led NATO forces ended their 13-year-old combat mission in Afghanistan last weekend. Though it may be too soon to gauge its impact, any assessment doesn't seem to be very favourable. Ruling it a success or failure will depend on what objectives are considered. If it was to cripple the Al Qaeda, they may have succeeded, but if it was restoring stability and peace in a country that had not known either for over three decades, then success is hardly the proper word. And this is despite several observers, and even some participants, turning out a range of incisive books since 2010 with warnings about the sorry state of affairs.

Be it by journalists with extensive experience of the region or a British diplomat involved in deliberations about policy, there are a number of most accessible books dealing with the US/NATO involvement with perceptive and even provocative analyses of what was going wrong or being done wrong.

All take different routes but underscore that it is most easy to begin a war but difficult to end one with victory or at least fulfillment of objectives until there is clarity and coordination among policymakers and a comprehensive and inclusive political settlement. German military theorist von Clausewitz held war to be continuation of policy by other means, implying it was a part of policy, not one itself - these books make clear this key axiom is being disregarded.

Interested readers could begin with British journalist Jonathan Steele's "Ghosts of Afghanistan: The Haunted Battleground" (2011). Steele, who has been covering Afghanistan since his first visit in 1981, seeks to demolish some 13 common myths about the country which have led foreign governments - in this case, the Western powers - to repeat the same mistakes.

Some of these are that the Taliban have little popular support; the Soviet invasion led to a civil war and Western aid for the Afghan resistance; the USSR suffered a massive military defeat at the hands of the mujahedin; Afghans have always beaten foreign armies, from Alexander the Great to modern times; after the Soviets withdrew, the West walked away; in 1992 the mujahedin overthrew the regime in Kabul and won a major victory; the Taliban were by far the harshest government Afghanistan has ever had; they invited Osama bin Laden to use Afghanistan as a safe haven; are uniquely harsh oppressors of Afghan women; and banning girls from school is a Taliban trademark.

American journalist Michael Hastings (1980-2013), whose 2010 Rolling Stones article "The Runaway General" on ISAF commander General Stanley MacChrystal's indiscretions, especially the contemptuous dismissal of the civilian leadership, led to his own, gives the whole story of his month with MacChrystal in "The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan" (2012).

The book lives up to its name with its no-holds barred account of the political infighting among the dangerously myopic insular factions. The Obama regime seems weak and ineffective, the Afghan government corrupt and unbelievably incompetent, and the US military more concerned about its own inner dynamics and politics than whether or not it can be successful in Afghanistan (or even what success might mean).

Indian-American journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, whose award-winning "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone" slammed the Bush regime's Coalition Provisional Authority, does the same for the Obama administration's 2009 civilian and military surge into southern Afghanistan in "Little America: The War within the War for Afghanistan" (2012).

This chronicles errors of a bumbling American policy including foisting unsuitable administrative systems, aid programmes with minimal development impact, the military's full throttle counter-insurgency campaign despite the White House's clear intent for a more limited counter-terrorism effort, massive development schemes with little chance for success and opportunities galore for corruption and dubious Afghan allies. Chandrasekaran's concluding assessment is sobering: "For years, we dwelled on the limitations of the Afghans. We should have focussed on ours."

Providing a stakeholder's account is British diplomat Sherard Cowper-Coles in the incisive "Cables from Kabul: The Inside Story of the West's Afghanistan Campaign" (2012)". Sir Sherard, who was envoy in Kabul during 2007-09 and then special representative to Af-Pak (2009-10) recounts the same numbing tale of confusion among the Western allies and the misguided belief - more prevalent among the US establishment - that the military option would ultimately prove successful, especially after veteran US diplomat Richard Holbrooke's untimely death.

Then there are British journalist Sandy Gall's "War Against the Taliban: Why It All Went Wrong in Afghanistan" (2012) and Carlotta Gall's "The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan 2001 - 2014" (2014) inspired by Holbrooke's comment that the US may have been "fighting the wrong enemy in the wrong country" and many more but none seems to have alerted policymakers of the erroneous course they were on!

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In order to help UPSC aspirants in better understanding topics related to internal security, two police officers have come together and published a comprehensive book on the subject.

The book, 'Challenges to Internal Security of India: For Civil Services Main Examination', is the first ever attempt to simplify popularly used jargons like 'external state', 'state actors', 'non-state actors' in the internal security domain.The lead author of the book is IPS officer Ashok Kumar who has earlier published collections on various subjects of Indian policing. The second author Vipul recently got into the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS) and is an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

The book, using first hand experiences of the 1989-batch Uttarakhand cadre officer Kumar in active duties, attempts to provide a conceptual frameowrk and analysis of the issues in a simple fashion.

"The syllabus in the UPSC examinations on this subject is a bit vague and hence we wrote the book in such a way that it will help prevent aspirants from spending hours surfing Internet finding out the real meaning of 'external state' and 'non-state actors' or 'linkages between development and spread of extremism' and save valuable time for themselves," Kumar, presently serving in BSF as its Inspector General in Punjab, told PTI.

Security and disaster management is an important topic in the General Studies paper-II of Civil services Main Exam. The book has been published by McGraw-Hill publications and is priced at Rs 160.

]]>New Delhi: Celebrated writer Chetan Bhagat feels that the college cutoffs should not bog one down because hard work can also take people places, adding that the country's education system is "broken somewhere".

"A student securing 98 percent is no less capable or intelligent than the one securing 99 percent. The emphasis on cutoffs every year just goes on to show that the educational system is broken somewhere," Bhagat, an IIT-Delhi and IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, told IANS in an email interaction from Mumbai.

One should not feel dejected after being rejected, as there is a place for everyone, Bhagat believes.

"Students can survive even without securing the highest cutoff because that definitely does not set the standard of the quality of education he or she has been getting since childhood," said the 40-year-old.

Equipped with the best qualifications, he enjoyed a high-profile banking job for 11 years, but decided to move away from number crunching to writing. And the rest is history.

As a writer, he raised the bar by churning out bestsellers like "Five Point Someone", "The 3 Mistakes of My Life", and "2 States" and most of his novels have been adapted into successful movies.

"I believe hard work can take people to places. I have IIT and IIM degrees, but currently in my scope of work in Bollywood, the degrees are irrelevant.

"My work speaks for itself and that's how it should be for people in the professional world," said Bhagat, who penned the screenplay for Salman Khan-starrer "Kick", which has crossed the Rs.100 crore mark at the box office.

As a father too Bhagat would never compel his twins - Ishaan and Shyam - to follow in his footsteps.

"Honestly, it would give me enormous joy to see my kids to be a part of IIT and IIM. But they are free to choose a career of their choice as long as they are happy. As a father I will completely support their choices," said Bhagat, who is married to his college classmate Anusha.

Amidst the traditional education system, new modes of teaching are evolving and Bhagat has teamed up with DTH-provider Tata Sky to promote its "TV Is Good" campaign.

"As a parent I am very well aware of the fact that kids today are exposed to a lot of content on television as well as on the internet, some useful, some harmful, as compared to the past," he said.

Sometimes it is difficult for a parent to keep a tab on the content that is accessible to their kids.

"But at the same time, if they are guided well by parents to experience the right content, kids can actually end up grasping a lot more than the limited knowledge that they are exposed to in schools," he added.

A picture can tell a thousand words and visual learning can equip children for bigger goals in life.

"Visual learning has greater impact than text book learning as children are more receptive to things they witness visually. While books prepare the children in subjects like maths and science that help them secure a job, the learning required to win in life is not limited to these books," he said.

Bhagat is also ready with his next book, a love story based in the semi-rural setting of India between a rural boy and an urban girl.

"It's slated for release in October," he said.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/8238443/"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Following massive protests, the NDA Govt announced measures to exclude English marks from CSAT exam. But will it defeat the very purpose of competency exam?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;]]>Let's rewrite the history of our universe, look at terrorism financing, read a modern classic and find your true calling. These varied themes make it to IANS bookshelf this week. Take a look.

Book: One Hundred Days: Her Quest, My Cure;

Author: Shweta Modgil

Publisher: Tara

Pages: 150

Price: Rs. 199

Can one afford to just step off the ladder of success? Probably not. It is not the rat race of nothing.

Up in the morning, breakfast on the run, back-to-back meetings, chasing clients, working hard, partying harder. Earning those big bucks to pay the EMIs and yet, feel like there is a gaping hole, that there is something missing, there has to be more to life than that high-flying job or the fat paycheck.

Neel does just that.

She falls of the grid, says bye-bye to her success story and decides to find out what is eating her inside, making her discontent. What follows is a 100-day roller-coaster ride, where her bewildered mama decides that if she is not working, she should be married and her brother that she should be studying or taking the pheras.

Or else, she has 100 days to get her act together. But Neel has other ideas and the doggedness of a pit bull, so she decides to chase a butterfly to find herself.

But can she find her calling or what is it that makes her tick before the money runs out and she turns into a social pariah? As her brother's deadline runs out, Neel

knows this is her last shot at freedom and a life on her terms. Will she find her wings, or limp back home broken?

Book: The Child of Misfortune

Author: Soumitra Singh

Publisher: Times Group Books

Pages: 327

Price: Rs. 350

Amar and Jonah played chess in childhood before a series of events ripped their friendship apart.

Now, they have grown up and find themselves challenging each other again - a dangerous game of chess with extremely high stakes involving their lives and the lives of millions of people - a game that takes them on an audacious journey from the Kashmir Valleys to the corporate houses of London.

Who will survive and who will win?

Book: The Cat and Shakespeare

Author: Raja Rao

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 165

Price: Rs. 299

This is a gentle, almost teasing fable of two friends.

Govindan Nair is an astute, down-to-earth philosopher and clerk, who tackles the problems of routine living with extraordinary common sense and gusto and whose refreshing and unorthodox conclusions continually panic Ramakrishna Pai, his friend, neighbour and narrator of the story.

Book: At The Edge if Uncertainty

Author: Michael Brooks

Publisher: Profile Books

Pages: 290

Price: Rs. 399

The atom. The Big Bang. DNA. Natural selection: All ideas that have revolutionised science and that were dismissed out of hand when they first appeared. The surprises haven't stopped here. The author

investigates the new wave of unexpected insights that are shaping the future of scientific discovery.

Through 11 radical new perspectives, the author takes us to the extreme frontiers of what we understand about the world. He journeys from the observations that might rewrite our history of the universe, through the novel biology behind our will to live, and on to the physiological root of consciousness.

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title: Kaw Caw Silly point: A Wonky Look at Contemporary India

Author: M.K. Kaw

Publisher: Konark

Pages: 270

Price: Rs.250.

This is a funny and serious book at the same time. Maharaj Krishen Kaw joined the IAS in 1964 and retired in 2001 after holding many senior posts. He was a scholar in his own right, a declining breed in the civil services, and he knew how to wield his pen. "Kaw Caw", his monthly column in 'Naad', the mouthpiece of the All India Kashmir Samaj, was a huge hit. This is an anthology of his best pieces.

Kaw is an insider and knows the establishment truly well. In pieces packed with wit and humour, Kaw deals with serious subjects, sharing with us his understanding of all that is wrong in today's India.

He hops from one subject to another with equal ease: Corruption, Mayawati's elephants, Anna Hazare, Robert Vadra, Air India, Narendra Modi, Kashmiri Pandits (his community), marriage, computers and Internet, Delhi Jal Board... and what have you.

Kaw is, of course, not always - or wholly - right. His understanding of Modi, for instance, is clearly at loggerhead with what majority India thought.

Kaw felt that Modi's "image of a modern nation builder may come crashing into the dust if the accusations levelled by his enemies and erstwhile colleagues and subordinates come home to roost".

Modi has, however, proved to be a far different persona from what Kaw thought. Just shows that even if you are sincere, you can go wrong.

]]> After a long break, author Chetan Bhagat is back with his latest book "Half Girlfriend", which is now open to booking on eCommerce website Flipkart. The book is about a love story set in Bihar.

The book's first look was released by Flipkart on Tuesday morning announcing that the site is taking pre-orders of the book.

An excited Bhagat tweeted Monday, "Tomo. New book announcement. Super excited.(sic)" He further added, "Thank you God for taking care of me so far. Leaving tomorrow in your hands.(sic)"

The synopsis of the book reads: "Once upon a time, there was a Bihari boy called Madhav. He fell in love with a girl called Riya. Madhav didn't speak English well. Riya did. Madhav wanted a relationship. Riya didn't. Riya just wanted friendship. Madhav didn't. Riya suggested a compromise. She agreed to be his half-girlfriend."

One of India's most successful authors, all of Chetan Bhagat's books have been bestsellers and have been adapted for the big screen. The "Two States" writer also dabbles in scriptwriting and has co-written Salman Khan's recent blockbuster 'Kick'.

Bhagat's last book 'Revolution 20: 20' came out in 2011.]]> Yesteryears Bollywood actress Meena Kumari's lyrical and emotional poems, a quirky look at sex from a woman's point of view, cooler climes of Mussoorie and Landour and some roller-coaster adventures; the IANS bookshelf this week is an eclectic mix of genres. Take a look.Book: Meena Kumari: The Poet

Author: Translated by Noorul Hasan

Publisher: Lotus Roli

Pages: 160

Price: Rs. 395

Meena Kumari was not only an iconic star of Hindi cinema, she was also a poet of great flair and delicacy. This book contains a compelling selection of her poems in the original Urdu and in brilliant English translations by Noorul Hasan.

Haunting, crystalline and precisely observed, Meena Kumari's poetry reveals a side of her personality that was rarely on display in her films. It proves beyond any doubt that she was a much more sensitive and self-aware woman than her fans tend to realise.

With a selection of critical and biographical material on Meena Kumari, including a concise introductory essay in which Daisy Hasan and Philip Bounds argue thatmuch of Meena Kumari's poetry can be read as a barbed critique of Indian popular culture, this book is essential reading for all her many admirers.

The twin hill stations of Mussoorie and Landour were established by the British in the early 19th century as a respite from the scorching heat and dust of the Indian summer on the plains.

Even today, these towns continue to attract many visitors, thanks to their salubrious climate and leisurely way of life.

While Mussoorie is more touristy and bustling, Landour is a quite getaway for those looking for a break from city life. Much has changed over the years, but both these places still retain an old-world charm - which adds to their appeal.

This book takes the reader on a historical tour of the two towns, from the late 18th century - when Frederick Young, the founder of Mussoorie and Landour Cantonment, was born in Ireland - up to India's Independence.

With beautiful photographs, evocative illustrations and fascinating snippets of local lore, this book brings alive for modern readers the stories behind these charming hill stations.

Book: The Adventures of Stoob: Testing Times

Author: Samit Basu

Publisher; Red Turtle

Pages: 116

Price: Rs. 195

It's February, and Stoob is glad that he is almost done with Class 5. But just before he can heave a final sigh of relief, there is an announcement: the class testmarks have all been cancelled and getting through to middle school depends on one giant exam.

And that's how it starts, the whole nightmare that his future biographers will call Stoob's incredibly dangerous exam adventure.

His life is turned upside down when his parents don't want him to do anything other than study, his friends Ishani and Rehan suddenly go all pious and goody-goody-study-buddy and best friend Prithvi comes up with a top secret plan to face the exams without studying.

Add to that a crow and some monkeys out to get him, and Stoob is about ready for a nervous breakdown.

4. Book: More Men On My Mind

Author: Radha ThomasPublisher: Rupa

Pages: 284

Price: Rs. 295

This novel is a whimsical, quirky look at sex from a woman's point of view. In this sequel, the protagonist's hunt for a good man takes her not only around the world but also into her own soul. And both, she finds, aren't exactly what she expected.

From speeding illegally down the avenues of New York with Italian men in their Alfa Romeos to the hospitals of Brooklyn with doctors who like stirrups; from charming, silver-tongued Oriental drug dealers to musicians who alternately delight and terrorise her; there is nothing predictable about her adventures.

Life teaches her lessons the hard way, but she dusts herself pragmatically and soldiers on, skirting danger and flirting with potentially horrible endings.]]>title: Family Life

Author: Akhil SharmaPublisher: Penguin

Price: Rs. 499

Pages: 228

Three minutes is what it takes to heat a can of soup. Three minutes is what it takes to reduce a brilliant boy to a vegetative state.

I first heard about the book when I met its writer at the Times Literary Carnival 2013. Both of us had just finished sessions, and were drinking coffee. I was bored, he was jetlagged, and we began to talk about our writing. When he told me his last book, An Obedient Father, had come out twelve years before this one, I gasped and asked what book had taken twelve years to write.

Akhil Sharma said it was a book about a child who has an accident which leads to brain damage, and his family trying to cope with the tragedy. Intrigued, I asked him for more. As he told the story, there was an intensity of expression and a layered poignancy to his telling that made me marvel at how taken he was with his own writing. When that happens to an artist, it makes me think the art is its own author, and the artist a spectator.

"It sounds very interesting," I said, as we finished our coffee, "I'll pick it up when it's out."

"Thank you," he said, with a warm smile.

I had no idea at the time that he was writing from experience. It makes me feel embarrassed now, for describing as "interesting" an incident that swallowed the lives of an entire family.

The humdrum title is indicative in itself. How does one describe such a terrible ordeal, the emotional upheaval, the exhausting hope, the coping mechanisms a family seeks? How does one describe the effects of caring for a child with brain damage, on his younger brother, his mother, his father? How does one lament, without being sentimental, the loss of such a promising life? How does one mourn for a boy who is alive, but dead?

What could be worse than a child's death, we often ask. This book tells us what could be worse. Here is a twelve year old boy, swaggering in his new American home, invited to several immigrant homes as a shining example of what hard work can achieve, after he has passed a difficult exam and got into an elite high school. His parents dream that he will become a doctor. His younger brother, the narrator of the story, is lost between admiration and jealousy. One day, the star goes to a swimming pool that he and his brother frequent on visits to their aunt's home in Virginia. That will be the last time he walks or talks.

Even in the short section before the accident, the boy's vitality strikes the reader. He's the big brother everyone wants, the son everyone hopes to have. For the rest of the book, we want the clock to turn back. Why did he have to go swimming that day? Why didn't he watch TV like his little brother? What was the lifeguard doing for those three minutes? What amount of compensation could possibly make up for the promise of a life cut off?

The book doesn't allow us the release of tears, perhaps because the writing is so contained. But there is a sense of intense loneliness, even from the cover, where a child stands with a schoolbag, his back to us. He faces an empty road: the sort of cold, pristine, suburban emptiness associated with 'abroad'. His colourful schoolbag, his thin arms and his short-cropped hair accentuate his vulnerability.

Akhil Sharma doesn't restrict himself to the microcosm of the family's life. The book is interlaced with observations of immigrant life, and extraordinarily peppered with humour. When the narrator says he thought his father had been assigned to the family by the government, it makes us chuckle. How many of us, who were born in the Seventies and Eighties, whose fathers disappeared in the morning and returned at night, their only evident purpose being to sign things and supply money, have had that impression in childhood?

On the fringes of the story are irrelevant details that make it all seem so real – such as the narrator's father stealing turf from a housing colony that is under construction, or people who spoke no English vocalising their hatred of America, despite having struggled so hard to get their visas. What could be sadder than a high school teacher from Delhi working at a toll booth? Or a family elder serving at a petrol bunk in America?

The fear that one may never go back to one's homeland is dealt with subtly. Mixed with the immigrant's pride at having made it to this land of promise, where dishes wash themselves and clothes dry themselves, is the immigrant's loneliness and alienation. As a student, I would often shudder at the thought of living so far away, growing distanced from my family as so many of my relatives have. Now, I feel guilty for having the means to travel back and forth, to live in India and holiday abroad.

However, it is not just these external aspects of family life that are relatable. The book is filled with vignettes that make us feel part of the family. The narrator, as a child, learns to write through Ernest Hemingway, by reading critiques of Hemingway's writing before actually reading his novels. After months of studying the man, he is suddenly afraid he may not like Hemingway's writing. Soon after his brother's accident, he glances at the alphabet in his classroom. When he sees 'Aa', 'Bb', 'Cc', he thinks 'Big brother, little brother'. When his mother switches on a torch and gives it to him, as they make their way back from a neighbour's house, he is reminded of his childhood in Delhi, when his brother would wield the torch during power cuts. The only illustration in the book is a torch. It makes the paragraph heavy, as if we feel that the burden has been passed from big brother to little brother.

The narrative picks up pace as the story goes on, and suddenly the main character earns 700,000 dollars a year – more money than the compensation his brother received. Leading his parents through the aisles of fancy grocery stores, he remembers how, during their early days in America, his brother and he had stopped to read the labels on the cans in the supermarkets. The next sentence is "Birju had some white hair now".

I would be tempted to use a cliche like "the author knows the pulse of his audience", but I get the sense that Akhil Sharma doesn't give a damn about the audience. So honest is his story, so vulnerable this family, that a passing statement can tug at our heartstrings.

The best part is its final sentence, which gives the book a Hemingway ending, 'unexpected and natural', as the author puts it.

It leaves us feeling empty, guilty and selfish.

Family Life is so effortlessly written that it's strange to read that the book was overdue by nine years. One gets the feeling that the author struggled with telling his story for a decade, and then threw his drafts away and wrote it from scratch, at one go, frenzied and brutally honest.Read more by the author:

Nandini is a journalist and humour writer based in Madras. She is the author of Hitched: The Modern Woman and Arranged Marriage. She sells herself and the book on www.nandinikrishnan.com

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Celebrated Brazilian author Paulo Coelhos new novel "Adultery", dealing with the blurred lines between love and infatuation, adventure and self-sabotage, will hit book stores in August.

Susan Sandon, managing director of Cornerstone Publishing, has acquired rights to "Adultery", acting on behalf of Hutchinson at Cornerstone, Hamish Hamilton in Australia and New Zealand, and Random House India.

The six figure acquisition, with separate deals for each territory, was struck with Monica R Antunes of Sant Jordi Asociados Literary Agency who represents Coelho.

"Adultery" will be published this August simultaneously with Knopf in the US.

According to the publishers, "Adultery" is a thought-provoking novel about the blurred lines between love and infatuation, adventure and self-sabotage.

"Linda is happily married to a wealthy man, has two children and works as a journalist - she knows she is lucky which only makes her unhappiness more confusing. While being afraid of change, she is also terrified of life continuing as it is.

"A meeting with a politician, and ex-boyfriend, ignites a side of her she thought had been shut-down with far-reaching consequences for everyone. The inspirational message for the reader is that you need to discover the passion in the life you have, not the life you imagine," the book's blurb says.

Meru Gokhale, editorial director at Vintage, Random House India says, "We are absolutely delighted to be publishing Paulo Coelho in India. He is a writer who is cherished by millions of Indian readers for his unique style, insight and wisdom."

According to Jocasta Hamilton, publishing director at Hutchinson, "Paulo Coelho is one of a handful of authors who can claim to have touched the lives of millions and this book will speak to everyone and anyone who has ever wondered 'is this it?'."

Coelho has sold more than 150 million books worldwide including many international best sellers like "The Alchemist", "Aleph", "Eleven Minutes" and "The Pilgrimage".

His work is published in 80 languages and he is one of the most translated authors in the world. He also has an enormous digital media presence with over 17 million Facebook fans and 9 million followers on Twitter.

]]>An excerpt from Devdutt Pattanaik's Sita : An Illustrated Retelling Of The Ramayana. The chapter 'Sita weeps as Surpanakha gloats' talks of what happens after Lakshman abandons Sita in the forest on his brother's orders.

The darkness gave way to a harsh sunlight. The trees were weeping. The birds were howling. The serpents were wailing. 'Ram has banished Sita,' they cried. 'Ayodhya does not think she is good enough for it.'

Sita calmed the trees and the birds and the serpents: 'Weep for my Ram who is locked by rules, unable to breathe free in the palace. I am back in the forest, where I can do whatever I please, whenever I please. I am no longer anyone's wife; I am now a woman with child. Gauri is not bound to bow her head and watch her step any more; I am now Kali. Come, let us swim in the river and eat Shabari's berries.'

Under the berry tree, Sita found Surpanakha, full of hate and rage, gloating. 'They rejected you as they rejected me. Now you suffer as I do, stripped of status as I was stripped of beauty.'

Sita smiled, and offered Surpanakha a berry. 'These are really sweet, as sweet as the berries in Mandodari's garden.' Surpanakha was surprised.

She had expected to derive pleasure from Sita's pain. But Sita was not in pain. 'Surpanakha, how long will you expect those around you to love you as you love them? Find the Shakti within yourself to love the other even when the other does not love you. Outgrow your hunger by unconditionally feeding the other.'

'But I want justice,' said Surpanakha.

'How much punishment will be enough? Ever since the sons of Dashratha disfigured you, they have known no peace. Yet you rave and rant relentlessly. Humans are never satisfied with justice. Animals never ask for justice.'

'I am not an animal, Sita. I will not be treated as one.'

'Then be human. Let go and move on. They who hurt you cannot expand their mind. But surely you can.'

'I refuse to submit.'

'You trap yourself in your own victimhood. Then be like Ravana. Stand upright while your brothers die, your sons die and your kingdom burns, imagining your own nobility. Who loses, but you? Cultures come and go. Ram and Ravana come and go. Nature continues. I would rather enjoy nature.'Surpanakha picked up the berry offered by Sita. It was indeed sweet, sweeter than any lover's impatient, lustful gaze. She ate another berry and smiled. 'Now I will race you to the river,' shouted Sita as she ran for the stream.

Surpanakha giggled as she jumped into the waters. Once again she felt beautiful.

Excerpted from Sita : An Illustrated Retelling Of The Ramayana by Devdutt Pattanaik with permission from Penguin Books India

Read More:

In an exclusive interview with Sify.com, the doctor-turned-mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik explains why Sita shouldn’t be portrayed as weak and helpless

"I don't think we should fall into trap of Modi or Rahul. Indulging in poll predictions will be a self fulfilling prophecy and disrespect to people," she said, adding that options before people are wide open in an age of coalition.

Claiming that the country was experiencing corporate governance, Roy said instead of discussing as to who should be the Prime Minister "we should talk which company will come -- Tata or Reliance."

The Booker-winner author said that the Gujarat chief minister is unlikely to become the Prime Minister.

"Narendra Modi is unlikely to become the prime minister, while Rahul Gandhi is also inexperienced. Moreover, it is difficult to predict as to who will be the Prime Minister," she told reporters on the sideline of a function in Bhubaneshwar.

On Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik emerging as a dark horse for the top position, she said "I cannot predict elections."

Regarding soaring crimes against women, she said "let us not blame the government for everything. While women have changed fast, men are losing control over them."

To a query on the proposed Posco steel project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district, Roy said anti-Posco movement has of late suffered a set-back but it would soon regain its steam.

Lauding Dangaria Kandhas for their fight against Vedanta project at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, she said they have taught the art of resistance. "They fought within forests, at Delhi and also at London stock exchange. The struggle will continue till the project is shut completely."

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Megastar Kasab – Hits and Misses: The Story of a Pakistani Actor, written by journalist Salil Jose, grabs you with its title.

The Kasab in the novel is not the Kasab who terrorised Indians, but one who comes to India to act in Bollywood movies and becomes a megastar.

It's an easy read spiced up with a sprinkling of steamy stuff.

The experience of Kasab is nothing new - Any Pakistani in India could end up facing the same situations.

But what makes his story engaging is the satirical and ironical tone the novelist has employed throughout the novel, right from the beginning when Kasab's early days in Bollywood are narrated to the end when he accepts the reality.

The story reads like an eyewitness account, but one craves for more since the book is but a novella. A lot of fleshing out could have been done.

The novelist failed to explore the minds of characters like Ram Singh and Priya, who had the potential to turn unforgettable.

However, he succeeded in presenting Kasab as a well-rounded character. Kasab proves to be a bold, true-to-heart, emotional human being.

Those parts where Kasab's thoughts, dreams and nightmares are narrated deserve special mention.

Another aspect of the novel which deserves to be highlighted is the crisp prose the novelist has employed in the novel. There are many insightful and thought-provoking one–liners.

But still one wishes that the author had given more colour to places, situations and characters. That would have made it all the more memorable.

The novel, published by Partridge India, is available on Flipkart and Amazon.

]]>">title: Adrift: A True Story Of Survival At Sea

Author: V Sudarshan

Publisher: Hachette India

Price: Rs. 399

Pages: 127

Apart from references to the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party, a quick Google search for ‘Commander Baath’ throws up a rather innocuous page for 'Infinity Scuba Andamans'.

It’s billed as ‘the only dive center to be located at Chidiya Tapu… an island at the southernmost tip of South Andamans, 25 km away from Port Blair', the capital of the island group in the Bay of Bengal.

‘Infinity Scuba Andamans,’ it says, ‘is owned by the legendary Commander Baath of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. An ex naval diver and commander in the Indian Navy, he has dived and explored the majority of the islands, in fact he is one of the pioneers to have explored the Andaman & Nicobar Islands through scuba diving. With numerous adventures under his belt (ask him about it) he now wants to share his love and enthusiasm for scuba diving with everyone.’

Among those ‘numerous adventures under his belt,’ one that happened about dozen years ago probably tops the list.

The reason I was searching for Commander Baath was that I’d just finished reading Adrift: A True Story of Survival at Sea, by V Sudarshan, the executive editor of The New Indian Express, and an old friend of mine.

And his story revolves around how Commander Baath and five others, including a French couple, spent a week adrift on the high seas --- miles from nowhere, lost, hungry and desolate --- and survived.

In his introduction, Sudarshan explains how he has a deep connection with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, having spent a part of his childhood there ‘trying not to grow up.’

The story begins with a young foreigner and her companion out snorkelling off a beach on Havelock Island, northeast of Port Blair.

Barely a few metres out from the beach, a giant crocodile suddenly grabs the woman as her partner watches helplessly. He throws his camera at the monster, but it is flicked away by the crocodile’s thrashing tail. By the time he returns to the beach, there is no sign of the woman or the crocodile.

Since there has never been a crocodile attack in the area before, the police view his story with scepticism, and they impound his passport pending further investigations. What saves him is footage of the attack from the underwater camera, which is found snagged on a rock two days later.

An alert is sounded, and the crocodile is sighted several times, off the cove. Four days later, the woman’s badly mutilated and decomposed corpse is found by a fisherman at the mouth of a nearby estuary. And days after that, a massive 14-foot crocodile is finally captured, using a dog’s carcass as a bait. But nobody knows whether it was the one that attacked the woman. The croc is sent to the Port Blair zoo, and the woman’s companion leaves the island.

In mid-2000, Commander Avtar Singh Baath decides that 20 years in the Indian Navy was enough, resigns his commission, and settles down in Port Blair with his wife Mona, who’s a former airhostess, and their two children. After some months doing nothing but fishing with his friend, Captain Ashwini Kumar from the Naval HQ at Port Blair, Baath buys a second hand boat, some engines, and starts a scuba diving centre.

Among his first clients is a French couple, Bruno Beauregard and Camille Pascal. So on a balmy March morning, Baath, Bruno, Camille, two crewmen, Rama Rao Sr and Rama Rao Jr, and Himanshu, a friend's son, set off for Sir Hugh Rose Island.

(If you want to know where that is, look at the maps drawn by Sudarshan’s young daughter, Rudraa, who’s also sketched the small illustrations that adorn the top of each chapter)

That’s when they spot the whales, and despite the inclement weather, decide to chase and film them at the French couple’s request. The weather turns worse, and Baath decides to head homeward through the rain. After a while, Bruno insists that according to his compass, they are going the wrong way. Baath, against his better judgment, turns the boat around.

By the time they discover that his compass is wrong, it is too late.

On a vast expanse of ocean infested with sharks, water snakes and pirates, they run out of fuel, water, food and hope. And then they hit a storm.

How they survive for almost a week before they are finally found and rescued is only part of Sudarshan’s gripping story. Suffice to say that Commander Baath’s attitude, and perhaps his naval background and training, turns him into a reluctant hero, an unwilling leader hoping to herd his flock to safety.

The other, equally interesting part is the fascinating sketches of the main players, woven seamlessly into the circular narrative.

These ‘back stories’, as Sudarshan modestly admits in an interview, ‘are interesting and bring out the characters very well.’

Written entirely in the present tense, the crisp, understated prose actually heightens the drama, and adds a certain timelessness to this story of survival at sea, of man’s indomitable spirit, and nature’s beautiful disdain. Read it. Because even Commander Baath himself probably could not have told it better.More from the author: